Egypt's Uncertain Revolution Under Nasser And Sadat

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1978. Third printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good. x, [4], 290 pages. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index. No DJ present. Raymond William Baker is college Professor of International Politics and Director of the Middle East Program, Trinity College. Baker is an internationally recognized authority on the Arab and Islamic world. The author of a series of critically acclaimed studies of Islam and Arab societies, he was designated as a Carnegie Islam Scholar in Islamic Studies for 2006 - 2008 in recognition for his contributions to the study of Islam. Baker's books on Islam and politics include Egypt's Uncertain Revolution Under Nasser and Sadat; Sadat and After: Struggles for Egypt's Political Soul; Islam Without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists. Baker co-authored with T. and S. Ismael, Cultural Cleansing in Iraq. His most recent book One Islam, Many Worlds of Muslims was recognized by BookList as one of the ten most important books on religion and spirituality published in 2015. Baker's research has won support from the National Science Foundation; Ford Foundation; Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities; and the Carnegie Corporation among others. Baker is active in international associations of scholars, including President Emeritus, International Association of Middle East Studies, 2001-present; Governing Board Member, World Organization of Middle East Studies, 2002-present; Governing Board Member, International Center for Contemporary Middle Eastern Studies. Baker has consulted periodically for the State Department, the Department of Defense, USAID, the Pentagon, and other government agencies and foundations. This is the only authoritative history of Egypt's revolutionary experience under the leadership of Gamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar el-Sadat. Presenting an explicit analysis of their efforts to create the politics and bureaucracy of revolutionary social reconstruction, the author addresses one central question: what have been the successes and failures and unintended consequences of Nasser's and Sadat's plans to direct vast transformations in Egypt? Raymond Baker begins by tracing Nasser's struggle to transform a conspiratorial military coup into a genuine revolution. He goes on to examine the difficulties Nasser faced in formulating a consistent ideology and in governing through factions (the bureaucracy, the military, technologists, and leftists) that were often at odds with each other. These problems were inherited by Sadat, who, Baker shows, has taken a new course in his efforts to solve them. Sadat has attempted to improve industry, attract foreign capital, and establish viable institutions through which Egypt can progress towards modernization. At the same time, Baker shows that Egypt's domestic developments must always be viewed in the light of its foreign involvement's and policies. He examines both leaders' uses of foreign policy to aid domestic reform and charts the evolution of Egypt's involvement from the mid-fifties until the present. Baker concludes with an important assessment, through case studies, of Egypt's performance in three areas: industrial management, agriculture, and rural health programs. His book, writes Joel Migdal of Harvard University, "is far superior to anything previously written on the subject of the Egyptian revolution and its impact on Egyptian society.".